Rooster Limping - Broken Leg? Hock Injury??

[heath_elisha]

This morning my husband let the chickens out and noticed our favorite rooster Big Red limping really badly. No visible injury- so we assume he injured himself while jumping off the roost. The leg moves all directions- not just one direction like the good leg. He is limping pretty bad, rests on the leg but his toes kinda curl under him when resting. It looks like the injury is at the hock area. When standing, it looks like the hock is bent straight rather then bent (as indicated in the picture below) I fear he broke it, dislocated or strained it. The hens are leaving him alone and he is getting around the pen. He is crowing and all- talking to me as I go out. What should we do for him? He is the best rooster ever and it make me just tear up when writing this...... I don't want to put him down

Anyone have any suggestions or any similar experiences???????

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Relieve the strain on his leg. If nobody kicked him or anything that would indicate serious injury then let's guess it's merely bruised badly. Wrap his leg with gauze and tape it. Like you would with any minor sprain, relieve the pressure and restrain the motion by wrapping it up. You can bend the leg up to body as he would be naturally sitting or keep it slightly bent so he can at least sit. If you hold it to body then wrap more gauze around body to hold the wrapped leg in that position. Let him hop about on one leg for a few days and unwrap to see how he's doing.

We had a rooster that was kicked hard by a disturbed neighboring teen. The leg was completely dislocated at hock. That took gauze, popsicle splints and flex tape for six weeks. He was back to fighting condition with a limp but otherwise fine. Yours should be 100 percent healed in far less time as it was not kicked or hit with vehicle or some other blunt force. Honestly, birds are very fast healers. The thing to look for is pecking order, other birds will seriously injure him if he is in weak condition, the bandage limited motion may incite this if not happening already. Watch them and be prepared to seperate him from flock for few days.

 

[heath_elisha]

Thank you for the suggestion. No aggressive teens/adults in our neighborhood here.... when closing them up last night he was up on the roost and fine. We have a roost that is about 2.5 feet or so high and that would be the only area that he could jump down from and that is the only thing I can think of that would have injured him. I read that leg fractures will cause the foot to clench, which kinda seems like what he is doing when standing there. His toes are not stretched out, but more under his foot and he is resting on the top side of his toes. I'll be making a trip to farmers supply to get some vet tape and try what you suggest. He may have to be caged up at night to prevent him from trying to roost- not that I think he could get up there.....

 

[heath_elisha]

Just went out and checked on him. I threw some food scraps out and he did his usual thing, limping of course- except when eating his leg is totally straight and foot is stretched out behind him. Where it bends at the hock to bring the leg under his body, it is straight.

 

[heath_elisha]

We managed to get a splint on him tonight. He was such a good boy, just laying there on the table while we bandaged him up. Looks as though it was tendon damage and no broken bones. From where the thigh attaches to the shank, in his "elbow" crease. If that makes any sense....is where the damage is. Anyone have any other suggestions besides splint, isolation, rest?

 

[GhettoRoo]

Relieve the strain on his leg. If nobody kicked him or anything that would indicate serious injury then let's guess it's merely bruised badly. Wrap his leg with gauze and tape it. Like you would with any minor sprain, relieve the pressure and restrain the motion by wrapping it up. You can bend the leg up to body as he would be naturally sitting or keep it slightly bent so he can at least sit. If you hold it to body then wrap more gauze around body to hold the wrapped leg in that position. Let him hop about on one leg for a few days and unwrap to see how he's doing.

We had a rooster that was kicked hard by a disturbed neighboring teen. The leg was completely dislocated at hock. That took gauze, popsicle splints and flex tape for six weeks. He was back to fighting condition with a limp but otherwise fine. Yours should be 100 percent healed in far less time as it was not kicked or hit with vehicle or some other blunt force. Honestly, birds are very fast healers. The thing to look for is pecking order, other birds will seriously injure him if he is in weak condition, the bandage limited motion may incite this if not happening already. Watch them and be prepared to seperate him from flock for few days.

Hello Egghead_Jr

I got limping roosters too. Theyre bone under breast and between legs, right between legs to tail side is bent on one side.
I got one who is limping about 2 weeks, and second wanted to take advantage by that, I found them fight till agony, and 3 days later
the second one limped too, but harder, he is brooding on ground on side as when chickens sunbath. And his bone between legs are bent too.

Mby this is some lack of calcium, and fights take out the strenght of that bone ar something.

 

[ElizaChick]

Hello - did your rooster end up recovering? I know your post was a long time ago, but that sounds like what is going on with my rooster right now.

 

[djhowe69]

My rooster started limping pretty bad a few days ago. I stopped allowing him to free range, thinking he had injured his leg during a previous day out. Yesterday I picked him up to assess why he wasn’t getting any better and noticed his injured leg has almost zero muscle on the drumstick and the left seems full and normal. I couldn’t feel any disconnected leg muscles anywhere so this is a real head scratcher to me.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My rooster started limping pretty bad a few days ago. I stopped allowing him to free range, thinking he had injured his leg during a previous day out. Yesterday I picked him up to assess why he wasn’t getting any better and noticed his injured leg has almost zero muscle on the drumstick and the left seems full and normal. I couldn’t feel any disconnected leg muscles anywhere so this is a real head scratcher to me.

Do you need some help with your rooster?

Photos of the injury, the rooster, etc.
What do you feed?
How old?

 

[djhowe69]

Do you need some help with your rooster?

Photos of the injury, the rooster, etc.
What do you feed?
How old?

There’s nothing to really to take a pic of, his leg looks ok. But when you pick him up and squeeze it there is no leg muscle you can only feel bone and tendons. He’s a year old and he eats pellets, grass and bugs...